1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sterile covers for the handles of adjustable apparatus for use in a sterile field.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To curb the rising costs of health care, small ambulatory care centers are performing many of the more routine services traditionally performed in hospitals. Many of those services, such as outpatient surgery, must be performed with the aid of traditional equipment under sterile conditions. In an ambulatory care facility the physician performing the service is often assisted by only one individual, and both the physician and the assistant must be sterile throughout the procedure. Therefore, unlike hospital surgeons having a large support staff to operate the equipment outside of the sterile field during a procedure, the ambulatory care physician or the assistant must operate any necessary equipment themselves and without the risk of contaminating themselves or the sterile field.
The current practice is to operate the controls of equipment, for example, pressing a button or switch on the control panel of a surgical light to adjust the light intensity, by means of a sterile rod. The sterile physician or assistant holds one end of the sterile rod and presses a control button with the other end. A similar procedure can be used to adjust the position of the surgical light. While the operation of equipment by means of such sterile rods is effective, it is obviously awkward.
Sterilization containers are well known in the art and sterile covers for use with surgical light handles are commercially available. The sterile covers, however, must be applied to the light handle by a sterile person. The covers are made of elastomeric materials and are currently packaged in a manner which too often deforms the shape of the cover. The deformed covers are difficult to apply with the required asceptic technique and often do not entirely cover the handle. Thus, the cover may become contaminated, or when the sterile person touches the cover, he or she may inadvertently touch the exposed portion of the nonsterile light handle. The known sterile covers are often inadequate.
There is a need, therefore, for a means which permits a sterile person to operate and/or adjust nonsterile equipment in a sterile field without the risk of contamination. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sterile cover to isolate the adjustment handles and control panels of equipment used in sterile fields and further, to provide a container in which the cover is sterilized and stored, and with which the cover can be applied to the handle without contaminating the cover.